6 // Memorial Library

The Halifax Memorial Library was proposed in 1946 to commemorate those killed and wounded in World War II. Previously housed on the upper floors of the Halifax City Hall, the Citizens’ Free Library had become too large for its site, and it was agreed that the collection should be moved to the new building at Grafton Park when it was completed. The province of Nova Scotia gave the land to the city on the condition that it only be used as a site for a park or a library. Construction began in 1949, and the library opened its doors to the public in 1951. It closed in 2014, when construction of the new Halifax Central Library, at 5440 Spring Garden Rd., was complete. The future of the old Halifax Memorial Library building is currently uncertain.